French govt. finds potential buyer for ArcelorMittal site

PARIS (Reuters) – Industry Minister Arnaud Montebourg says a potential buyer for ArcelorMittal’s Florange site has been found and is willing to invest 400 million euros to renovate it.

The French government has found a potential buyer for steelmaker ArcelorMittal’s Florange site in northeast France, Industry Minister Arnaud Montebourg said on Wednesday.

« We have a buyer who is a steelmaker, an industrialist, not a financier, who moreover wants to invest his own money and … is ready to invest nearly 400 million euros to renovate this site, » Montebourg told the National Assembly.

The government is working on a plan to temporarily put the site at Florange under state control while it tries to find a buyer and avoid the closure of two blast furnaces there.